MANILA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said a 6.3-magnitude offshore earthquake struck Davao Occidental province in the southern Philippines early Thursday morning.

The institute said the tectonic earthquake occurred at 5:41 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 km, with the epicenter 99 km southwest of the coast of Balut Island.

The Philippines, an archipelagic nation in Southeast Asia, is frequently affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis due to its location along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a vast horseshoe-shaped zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity surrounding the Pacific Ocean.